#Nannyart by Brandon E. Cannon

Sometimes you need a bit of cheer on a suddenly gloomy, Daylight Savings Time Monday, and that came in the form of our Instagram feed this weekend. We’d stumbled upon the account of artist Brandon E. Cannon a while back — most likely after he commented with a palm-tree emoji on our own images — and we noticed he’d been posting these hyper-colorful, collage-like pieces hashtagged #Nannyart. Intrigued not only by the visuals but also by their incongruous label, we reached out. And frankly, the introduction Cannon gave to himself and his work surpassed anything we could have ferreted out using any of our own journalism techniques. We’ll let him do the honors:

“#NannyArt is a series that has been ongoing for about four months now, consisting of 50+ 5×7-inch canvas boards incorporating collage, painting, patterns, and household supplies. The end of this series will consist of 100 of the 5×7-inch canvas boards as well as a few large-scale paintings done in the same manner. The term #NannyArt came from the culture and lifestyle that I became accustomed to after making the move to Panama back in May. In Panama, the term “Nanny” is thrown around a lot because everyone has one. To have someone who comes to your home or apartment once or twice a week, some are even live-in, is more than common in Panama. There’s even an extra bedroom and bathroom in every home and apartment for live-in nannies. Over time while painting at my studio I began to take notice of some of the cleaning supplies my “nanny,” Lucre, was using on a day-to-day basis. The colors, patterns, and textures of the supplies began to catch my eye and greatly intrigued me. With the sudden idea of buying art supplies not at the art store but in the cleaning aisles of grocery stores or mini-marts #NannyArt began to take form. I used these everyday objects and began to mix them with some of my biggest inspirations such a Memphis Design, Bauhaus, cartoons, and the constant chase of childhood nostalgia.”

“I’m 25 years old and I studied illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, GA. After graduation I moved back to NYC and began working as an artist assistant at what is now known as Pioneer Works. Later I went on to be an assistant working on the Holiday windows for Bergdorf Goodman through the direction of John Gordon Gauld. I met my future wife while living there, a Panamanian girl, and we decided to get married and move to Panama to get a nice change of scenery and, for me, to live outside of the United States for the first time. Recently I have been putting all my focus into #NannyArt and some other pieces on the side, as well as testing new ideas such as printing then painting and re-printing on canvas. Most of the process is spontaneous, taking cues from whatever music I might be listening to at the time, the weather, or just any daily new inspirations. The brush strokes and collages are all very natural and fun to do, seeing what can get mixed together without creating an entire ugly cluster of random supplies. Texture also plays a big role in my work; I was always the kid that wanted to touch the paintings and I think that comes across with the bold drips of oil paint, the brush strokes, and the three dimensional paper. Other than that I, well, I love pizza and R. Crumb, skateboarding and DEVO.” Scroll down for more of Cannon’s work, and go to his website to follow along!

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